Foreign Workers

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 17, 2015

Obama administration will dispatch officials to collect about 2,000 three-year work permits that were issued to illegal immigrants in error; follows strongly-worded order from Federal Judge Andrew S Hanen. MORE

Jul. 17, 2015

Bankruptcy filings by Signal International reveal that maritime construction company will pay $20 million in settlement with five Indian workers in case regarding labor abuses and foreign worker trafficking; settlement is unusual because it is part of company's bankruptcy filing. MORE

Jul. 16, 2015

United States Senate subcommittee examines treatment of migrant workers in Qatar, as part of hearing into corruption scandal surrounding soccer's FIFA; American companies helping country build for 2022 World Cup are caught up in debate. MORE

Jun. 23, 2015

State Dept officials report they are working to fix computer hardware glitch affecting processing of photographs and fingerprints that have prevented them from issuing travel visas for at least two weeks. MORE

Jun. 18, 2015

Dominican Republic begins enforcing new legislation which deports any foreign-born worker who is not registered in campaign Operation Shield; law, which also provides path to citizenship for registered foreign-born workers, is causing outcry by human rights advocates who say it unfairly targets Haitian migrant workers, and has already led to deportations of those in registration process. MORE

Jun. 17, 2015

Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in Dominican Republic, most of them Haitian, face deportation for failing to secure residency permits by deadline. MORE

Jun. 17, 2015

Around 35 technology employees at Disney/ABC Television in New York and Burbank, Calif, who were told previously that they were to be replaced by immigrants have been told they will keep their jobs; reversal comes in wake of controversy over firing of 250 tech employees at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla, who were replaced by immigrants; it is unclear who made decision about workers in New York and Burbank. MORE

Jun. 15, 2015

Editorial examines incidents at Walt Disney World and elsewhere that highlight deep problems with the H-1B visa program, saying it allows companies to recruit skilled foreign workers, through outsourcing programs, for pittance at expense of their American counterparts; observes that loopholes allow companies to subvert program created to help companies fill skill gaps when domestic candidates are unavailable; calls on lawmakers to amend program as part of larger immigration reform bill. MORE

Jun. 5, 2015

Florida Democratic Sen Bill Nelson, responding to New York Times report, calls for Department of Homeland Security to investigate temporary visa program for highly skilled immigrants; Times article revealed that Walt Disney World and other companies had replaced employees with immigrants and then forced those fired to train their replacements. MORE

Jun. 4, 2015

Layoffs at companies like Disney in Orlando and other companies have raised questions about how businesses are using temporary work visas, known as H-1B, to bring in immigrants with highly skilled technological knowledge; Disney replaced 250 employees with such workers in October 2014; of particular concern in ongoing debate in Congress is how top recipients of visas have been India-based outsourcing or consulting firms. MORE

May. 29, 2015

Op-Ed article by Human Rights Watch researcher Nicholas McGeehan points to numerous examples of United Arab Emirates denying artists and writers critical of its exploitative labor system entry into country as evidence that it is unwilling to tolerate debate and criticism; criticizes Louvre, Guggenheim and New York University for giving veneer of respectability to authoritarian state's Saadiyat Island art project. MORE

May. 16, 2015

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announces that his administration will investigate conditions of nail salon industry workers, labor force primarily made up of foreign workers; move comes in response to articles published in The New York Times documenting widespread exploitation; city efforts will be limited largely to advocacy as state is primarily tasked with policing wage violations. MORE

May. 12, 2015

Editorial welcomes New York Gov Andrew Cuomo's state initiative to protect wage and health abuses of foreign workers in nail salons but cautions he must go further for long-lasting results; suggests enrolling help of federal agencies like OSHA and Homeland Security Dept, as well as workers' organizations, to ensure workers have an ongoing support system. MORE

May. 10, 2015

Rampant exploitation of manicurists in salon industry has gone largely unnoticed even as manicures have become regular part of grooming for women of all economic backgrounds in New York City metropolitan area; interviews with more than 150 nail salon workers, many of them undocumented foreign workers, reveal abuses they endure, including withheld pay, wages far below minimum wage, physical abuse and racism (Series: Unvarnished). MORE

May. 2, 2015

Increasing violence and unrest in Libya alters flow of African migration to Europe; many migrants risk their lives crossing Mediterranean because they can neither stay and work in Libya nor return to their home countries. MORE

Apr. 18, 2015

South African police attempt to defuse wave of violence against immigrants from other African nations, who some have accused of stealing their jobs; four immigrants have been killed in unrest, which has spread across country fueled by xenophobic comments of traditional Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini. MORE

Apr. 17, 2015

Investigative report finds that about one-third, or 10,000, migrant construction workers at site of New York University extension campus in Abu Dhabi were excluded from university's labor protection guidelines; concludes that most workers were treated in accordance with university guidelines, but that local contractors chose to exempt some. MORE

Apr. 2, 2015

The Upshot; victory by soccer player and native Englishman Harry Kane for his team Tottenham Hotspur incites popular movement to restrict number of foreign players and owners in league; fact that English Premier League has become less English, with only 37 percent of 500 league jobs being held by Englishmen, fuels nation's anti-immigrant fears. MORE

Mar. 17, 2015

New York University professor Andrew Ross is barred entry into United Arab Emirates, where NYU opened new campus in 2014, over his criticism of labor practices there. MORE

Feb. 25, 2015

Obama administration says it will grant work permits to spouses of immigrants holding H-1B visas, as long as immigrants are in process of becoming legal, permanent residents; announcement is welcomed by technology companies and other businesses who say it will encourage highly skilled workers to come to America. MORE

Feb. 19, 2015

Federal jury in Louisiana awards $14 million in damages to five Indian guest workers who said they were lured to United States under false promises of permanent residency by Gulf Coast maritime services firm Signal International; workers said they were forced to live in inhumane conditions. MORE

Feb. 11, 2015

Jim Dwyer About New York column cites Human Rights Watch report showing severity of mistreatment of workers constructing New York University campus in United Arab Emirates, noting university codified fair treatment for workers, but code was not enforced; remarks episode highlights moral peril of combining liberal ideals with economy reliant on cheap labor from poor migrant workers. MORE

Dec. 2, 2014

New York University says procedures intended to protect workers at its Shanghai campus were not properly reviewed by Jones Lang LaSalle, real estate consulting firm hired to conduct labor compliance monitoring at building site; revelation comes amid review of labor conditions at NYU's Abu Dhabi campus. MORE

Nov. 7, 2014

About 20 people gather outside black-tie benefit for the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum to protest museum's plans for branch to be built on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; island is already home to a New York University campus build by migrant laborers who worked under harsh conditions and protesters are calling on Guggenheim to ensure against similar mistreatment of workers. MORE

Sep. 17, 2014

Report by monitoring group Verite finds that nearly one in three migrant workers in Malaysia's electronics industry work under forced labor conditions; two-year investigation found that 32 percent of industry's nearly 200,000 migrant workers have had their passports taken away or are struggling to pay back illegally high recruitment fees, essentially trapping them at their jobs. MORE

Aug. 18, 2014

Editorial warns that federal trial in Brooklyn involving accusations that Arab Bank in Jordan handled transactions for known terrorists may discourage banks from arranging remittances for migrant workers in wealthy countries on grounds that legal risk is too high; says departure of banks from remittance business would threaten years of progress on lowering remittance fees; urges World Bank to avert situation by becoming remittance center. MORE

Jul. 19, 2014

Germany is competing more aggressively with United States, Britain and other countries to attract and keep educated people from abroad; Germany's healthy economy needs additional workers, particularly for jobs requiring high levels of training and education, problem likely to be exacerbated in long run by its low birthrate. MORE

Jun. 20, 2014

Pew Research Center report shows that immigrants no longer make up the majority of Latino workers in the United States; study finds that immigrants, which includes Latinos who have come to United States legally or illegally, made up 49.7 percent of all Hispanic workers in 2013, down from 56.1 percent in 2007. MORE

Jun. 16, 2014

Tens of thousands of Cambodian workers flee Thailand, driven by fears of crackdown on illegal foreign labor by military junta that took power in May; exodus threatens to strain relationship between countries and is harmful to both Cambodian workers and Thai industry. MORE

May. 26, 2014

The general contractor that helped oversee the construction of the Abu Dhabi campus is run by a trustee of N.Y.U.’s board. MORE

May. 26, 2014

Former President Bill Clinton delivers the first graduation speech at New York University in Abu Dhabi, despite pleas in the United States that he boycott the event to protest the poor treatment of foreign laborers who helped construct the new campus; expresses support for NYU president John Sexton, while voicing his concerns regarding the issue. MORE

May. 25, 2014

About 40 protesters critical of the Guggenheim Museum’s planned franchise in Abu Dhabi smuggle their own artworks into the Guggenheim in Manhattan, placing them in an exhibit of Italian futurism; intervention is part of growing protest over labor conditions for migrant workers on Saadiyat Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi, where museum's franchise is soon to be constructed. MORE

May. 22, 2014

New York University apologizes following report about mistreatment of workers who built its Abu Dhabi campus; says that it will work with its partner, Abu Dhabi government, to investigate; experts on labor conditions in region warn that it will be difficult to prevent further abuses on campus, given laws currently in place. MORE

May. 20, 2014

New York University issues apology to any workers on its newly completed Abu Dhabi campus who were treated poorly, following news reports of widespread abuses among labor force that numbered about 6,000 at its peak; article described workers being arrested, beaten and deported to their home countries after striking over pay; conditions are common to projects in United Arab Emirates, where poor South Asian immigrants make up most of the work force. MORE

May. 19, 2014

Workers who built New York University's new campus in Abu Dhabi say they were subjected to grim conditions, crackdowns and violence; labor exploitation is common in United Arab Emirates, where strikes are illegal, but NYU issued 'statement of labor values' in 2009 that was intended to protect the workers; revelations undermine university's vision of creating a zone of cultural freedom in the Arab world. MORE

May. 7, 2014

Obama administration, looking to make adjustments to nation’s immigration system while broader legislation is stalled in Congress, announces plans to allow spouses of some highly skilled temporary immigrants to work in United States; proposals address visa rules that have long caused difficulties for spouses of skilled immigrants. MORE

Mar. 29, 2014

Op-Ed article by Prof Andrew Ross condemns labor companies, whose work force is almost entirely made up of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi Sri Lankan and Nepalese migrant laborers, that are building sleekly designed development on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi; cites low wages, harsh conditions and recruitment fees that immigrant laborers are expected to pay back; urges art and academic institutions under construction there to insist on practices that protect basic human rights. MORE

Mar. 20, 2014

Switzerland is confronting the practical complexities and potentially substantial economic costs of vote to clamp down on immigration, which put the country at loggerheads with the 28-nation European Union and its policy of free movement of people; many are wondering what Swiss officials can come up with that might satisfy the referendum and yet keep the country in the good graces of the European Union. MORE

Mar. 4, 2014

Detainee dies in a stampede during a riot at a Saudi detention center for migrant workers awaiting deportation; nine others are injured. MORE

Feb. 16, 2014

Phyllis Korkki Applied Science column; paper published by National Bureau of Economic Research says by using online job marketplaces to handle specific projects, small businesses are increasingly using foreign contract workers to lower their costs. MORE

Feb. 15, 2014

Op-Ed article by photojournalist Gratiane de Moustier warns that hundreds of thousands of Indonesian women face abuse and harsh living conditions as live-in domestic workers in Hong Kong and other Chinese territories; holds by upholding complex system of abuses, Indonesian and Hong Kong governments are responsible for a form of indentured servitude; calls on citizenry of both nations to demand change. MORE

Feb. 6, 2014

Editorial cautiously supports plan by Michigan Gov Rick Snyder to reinvigorate Detroit by bringing in 50,000 immigrants over five years using visa program for people with advanced degrees or exceptional abilities; says proposal, while appealing in some ways, could be viewed as defeatist or exclusionary in others; urges both careful enactment and larger ambition. MORE

Jan. 24, 2014

Michigan Gov Rick Snyder announces plans to seek federal help in bringing in 50,000 immigrants to bankrupt Detroit over five years as part of a visa program aimed at those with advanced degrees or exceptional abilities; fate of unusual plan remains uncertain. MORE

Jan. 16, 2014

Great Britain has been flooded with immigrants from Poland since eight former Communist countries were admitted to European Union in 2004, prompting some to question rules that allow them to claim welfare benefits; rules that allow people to move freely throughout the European Union and give them equal rights are being questioned for first time in years. MORE

Jan. 8, 2014

Leguama Journal; mass deportation of 150,000 Ethiopian immigrants from Saudi Arabia has left many impoverished and without clear path; deportation has also put strain on Ethiopian government, as remittances that migrants sent home greatly contributed to country. MORE

Dec. 28, 2013

Editorial notes unrest and anger are rising among Singapore's deeply exploited class of migrant workers, peaking in riot that was dismissed by country's leaders; calls on nation's government to acknowledge their plight, and to ensure higher pay and an end to abusive system. MORE

Dec. 27, 2013

Some Bulgarians, citing lack of opportunity and corruption at home, plan to work in one of nine European Union States after labor restrictions are lifted on Jan 1, 2014; even the top fifth of Bulgarians earn less than the bottom fifth in Britain, France and Germany, which are among nations changing their policy. MORE

Dec. 19, 2013

Op-Ed article by Prof Martin Ruhs cites failure of United Nations' 1990 convention that set down civil, political, economic and social rights for migrants, including those living or working abroad illegally; points out news of mistreatment of such workers seems to arrive continually; calls for approach that considers the creation of shorter list of universal 'core rights' that would have a higher chance of acceptance by greater number of countries. MORE

Nov. 28, 2013

Established French mushroom picking companies, disappointed by low yields, are claiming that foreign workers--Roma in particular--are to blame; issue highlights frustrations of some French as a borderless Europe opens once exclusively French domains to economic competitors, and reveals darker undercurrents of hostility and discrimination within the culture. MORE

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